It’s an ambush.
I like to arrive places, unannounced, and snoop around desks. It’s fun to see what personal items folks keep at their homes away from home.
They were nice at Roy Robinson in Marysville and gave me the run of the place.
General manager Mark King said right off the bat that he is particular about his desk.
It’s sparse all right, except for several pictures of his family that includes his wife, Gina, and children Gabby and Nicky, 6-year-old twins, and Julia, 4.
They live in Marysville. He said Roy Robinson has been in Marysville since 1967.
There was a candy bowl he keeps filled only for customers and staff, he said.
“If I don’t refill it, they complain.”
And a Mighty Mouse picture hangs on a wall on the side of his desk. “Mighty Mouse” is his nickname, he said, because he gets the job done.
There was a small clock and business card holder.
“It was a groomsman gift when I was in Gordy’s wedding,” King said.
That’s Gordon E. Bjorg Jr., new-car sales manager, who sits at the next desk.
He is the son of the owner. A Washington State University teddy bear oversees action from Bjorg’s desk.
He told me Roy Robinson died in 2001 at age 73.
An electronic picture frame automatically rotated pictures of his family, including his wife, Donna, and children, Ryan, 7 and Trey, 5.
Yes, he has golfed at Pebble Creek, thus his attire — a yellow wind shirt with a Pebble Beach logo.
The screen saver of Sammy Hagar was a memento from a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where Hagar owns a bar.
Jake Hensrude, used-car manager, lives on Camano Island. His pictures included daughter Rozalynn, 12, and son Rex, 1.
His wife, Stacey, is one of the Hooper girls who grew up on Camano Island.
Fresh flowers were an odd sight this time of year, on the desk of office manager Debbie Christensen of Mill Creek.
The bouquets were leftover from her recent birthday. She had fruit and 100-calorie snacks in a desk drawer. Snapshots showed her granddaughter, Ariana, born a year ago on Dec. 21.
She doesn’t know anyone with cancer, but Cheryl Dellinger, assistant office manager, is all about supporting the breast cancer research cause. She had a toy pink car on her desk, with the pink-ribbon cancer logo.
Folks bring her magnets from trips, including ones from Maui, Hawaii, and Las Vegas.
Her snack drawer was delightfully odd. Inside were chocolate-covered sunflower seeds from Trader Joe’s. There also was a voodoo doll on the side of her desktop.
Carissa Short, who lives in Marysville, got married Oct. 11 in Hawaii. The contract coordinator likes the Seahawks, or used to like the Seahawks, she said. She tacked up a candy wrapper reading “Make a list of your dreams.”
Short has not listed her dreams.
Seahawks could have brought a windfall to David Madsen, assistant recreational vehicle sales manager. He had a football in a plastic case, autographed by former player Shaun Alexander.
He bought it, thinking he would make a killing, selling it.
It went on eBay, but they forgot to require a minimum bid.
“We had to buy it back,” Madsen said.
His cohort in the ball fiasco was Gary Morris, RV sales manager, who likes to go boating.
There was a gift bottle of home brew on his desk named “Theresa’s Apple Pie” and an award naming Roy Robinson a top-50 dealership.
He said sales, even in a slow economy, are about the same as last year, but it was a quiet day on the lot.
“We can’t compete with Santa,” Morris said.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
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